Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish is delighted with the competition they have at fullback.

Glen Johnson has started each of Liverpool's last three Barclays Premier League matches, but the England international faces stiff competition from Martin Kelly, who impressed on international duty by scoring two goals for the Three Lions' U21 squad over the break, and Jon Flanagan.

"Glen's biggest challenge this year was getting fit and once he got himself fit, he came in and has been excellent for us," Dalglish told liverpoolfc.tv. "Everybody knows he is a really good footballer. The fact he's got a challenger for the position here and for England won't do him any harm whatsoever.

"In the two games, if it hadn't been for Luis scoring four, Martin would have been top goalscorer for our international players with two goals.

"He was playing centre-back, which is where he started, and that's great for us to have seen him there and great for Martin to get a little bit of versatility. The two goals won't do him any harm whatsoever. Jordan (Henderson) made the two of them, so that's great for us as well.

"I don't think Martin played again last year after he got the injury at West Ham (in February). We did a lot of prevention work with him and I think both ourselves and Martin are getting the benefit of that now. When he was out, Flanno (Jon Flanagan) came in and did a fantastic job for us.

"We're quite fortunate we're quite strong in that full-back position and we've got the England international playing there at the moment. It's tough competition for everybody, but that's the way we want it to be and why we want a strong squad to be able to compete."